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Posts Tagged ‘judgment’

I Have a Judgment Against Me Because I Goofed and Now I Need to Remove It!

March 1st, 2010

You fell behind on your payments and your creditor decided to pursue a judgment against you. Even though you appeared at the hearing, your creditor was granted the judgment. Now, you don’t know what to do or where to turn to delete the judgment entry from your credit report.

What’s worse, you didn’t realize how much this would affect your credit score. The fact is, a judgment can remain on your credit history anywhere from 10-12 years and, if the debt is still unpaid at the end of this time period, your creditor may be able to renew the judgment. Even a paid judgment will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date paid!

Now it’s time to think about removing that pesky judgment from your credit report. To begin, it is important to understand that it is illegal to remove an accurate item from a credit report. Knowing this, there are two ways to remove a FALSE entry. You can remove a credit report entry by proving that the entry is false. You can also remove a credit report entry by disputing the entry and, if the entry is not verified by your creditor within 30 days, the entry must be removed by the credit reporting agency. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows consumers the right to dispute negative items, including judgments and public records.

If you decide that you would like to dispute a judgment entry on your credit report, it will be necessary to send a dispute letter to the credit reporting agencies that are reporting the judgment. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are the three major credit reporting agencies. With entries such as credit cards or car loans, the dispute would be forwarded to credit card companies, banks, credit unions, loan companies, car dealerships, etc.

Unlike car loans and credit cards, judgment and public record information is located in governmental buildings and maintained by county personnel. In light of this, a judgment dispute will be forwarded in most cases to the county courthouse in your county. As humans verify this type of information, as opposed to fancy software programs, it normally takes longer to verify this type of dispute and, in many cases, the verification is not able to be completed within the specified time frame of 30 days. When this happens, the credit reporting agency, by law, must remove the judgment entry from your credit report.

It is possible for you to move forward with credit repair on your own. However, if you do not have the time or if you just don’t enjoy wrangling with credit reporting agencies, you might consider speaking to a consumer rights attorney. The typical consumer rights attorney has tackled hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of similar cases.

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Matt Douglas Credit Finance , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is It Necessary to Pay a Judgment?

February 13th, 2010

Yes, a judgment should be paid unless you feel that a “Motion to Vacate” is in order. If you are successful in having a judgment vacated, it will mean that you have no legal obligation to pay the debt as far as a court of law is concerned. However, under the terms of the contract, you may still be liable.

Anytime prior to going to court, you can attempt to settle the debt with your creditor. From a credit perspective, it is always better not to have a judgment appear on your credit report. Any agreement you come to with your creditor should be in the form of a written agreement containing both of your signatures. Be sure that a clause is included in this agreement which states that all negative entries pertaining to the judgment are to be erased from your credit report. It is usually detrimental to have a judge settle the dispute rather than coming to an agreement with your creditor on your own.

If you are unable to reach a settlement with your creditor, do not be intimidated by a court appearance! By planning and preparing yourself, you can go forward confidently. It would be smart to use the services of a knowledgeable and seasoned consumer attorney if you hope to have the judgment dismissed.

If you lose in court, is it possible to remove the judgment from your credit history? A judgment will remain on your credit report for 12-20 years and are sometimes renewable. A paid judgment will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date paid!

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows you the legal right to challenge any erroneous information contained on your credit report. This includes items such as public records and judgments. Questions regarding the accuracy of a negative item can sometimes be cleared up by mailing a dispute letter to the credit reporting agencies.

Debtors often find that disputes are settled in their favor because credit bureaus and courthouses normally use a time-consuming system which is prone to error. Automated electronic systems verify more common disputes related to credit cards and automobile loans. However, courthouses and humans verify credit report judgments.

When a judgment is disputed, the verifying agency is given a specified time frame to verify the judgment. Often, governmental employees are over-worked and cannot complete the verification on time. If the judgment cannot be verified within this time period, the credit reporting agency must remove the judgment entry from your credit history.

If you are thinking of repairing your credit, you should be aware that there are several different laws which have been enacted in order to help consumers in this endeavor. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Credit Billing Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act are examples of legislation which promote consumer rights. To repair your credit or eliminate negative judgment entries, you should familiarize yourself with all of the current consumer legislation or engage a seasoned and knowledgeable consumer credit attorney.

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Matt Douglas Credit Finance , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Should I Be Worried About a Judgment?

February 7th, 2010

As you can imagine, when your debt is sent to collections, your credit score will be damaged. If from there your creditor seeks a judgment for payment, your credit score will plummet even further.

At the point you receive a Notice to Appear in court, you can be assured that your creditor is no longer willing to try to collect the debt. You are allotted 30 days to respond to the Notice. The case will be dismissed if you can prove that the debt is invalid.

If a creditor merely threatens to go to court, it may or may not be serious. In any event, you should view going to court as an absolute last resort.

If your credit report lists an “unpaid” judgment, it will remain on your credit report for 10-12 years. If the judgment remains unpaid at the end of this time, it can be renewed. A judgment which has been paid can remain on your credit report for up to 7 years from the date paid.

You should make an effort to contact your creditor to negotiate a settlement, provided the debt is valid, you would prefer this route to letting a judge decide your fate, and the debt is still within the statute of limitations (check your state’s statute of limitations laws). Be sure to check your state’s statute of limitations laws prior to doing this. The reason for this is that if your debt is outside of the statute of limitations, you no longer have a legal obligation to pay the debt and offering to pay may start the clock ticking again for payment purposes.

If you are ordered by the court to pay a debt and an official court order is issued, the impact on your credit score will be devastating. However, if you decide to contact your creditor and arrange for payment, you may be able to avoid this traumatic black mark.

Offering to negotiate a settlement is the best solution for all parties. Typically, creditors do not want to go to court and will accept a portion of the amount owed just to bring the matter to a close. If you do not have a lump sum to offer as payment, you can always attempt to negotiate a payment plan. If your creditor is not “in the mood” to consider any offers, you might think about calling the lawyer handling the case for your creditor.

If a judgment is dismissed, it will be reported on your credit report as “legally void.” This is considerably less harmful than a “paid” judgment. Paid judgments remain for seven years on your credit report from the time paid.

The best outcome would be to negotiate a full deletion of all negative information. If you are successful in negotiating this, make sure you get the agreement in writing and that you obtain the signatures of both parties. Keep in mind that once the court becomes involved, your chances of negotiating a settlement are next to none.

You might consider hiring a good consumer credit attorney. It may cost you a little bit, however, you may find that, by having an attorney handle the negotiations, you may save money as well as minimize the damage done to your credit score.

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Mark Newman Credit Finance , , , , , , , , , ,